CHAPTER TEN

THE ONES WE LOVE

The sound of Thunderbird Three's engines roared overhead as her pilot reversed the rocket into dock on Tracy Island. On board, Jeff Tracy was at the helm, John beside him watching almost critically as his father expertly worked the controls. Behind them both, strapped into one of the rear passenger seats was Gordon. John had docked at the space station to wait for the International Space Agency to collect the rescued astronauts, do a few necessary repairs to the rocket and pick up Gordon, knowing that his brother had been on duty now for a great deal longer than he should have. For the time they had been in dock, Gordon, John and their father had checked all of Thunderbirds Three's systems, re-routed all of the station's functions to the ground and waited for Gordon to pack his bags. Gordon was unspeakably relieved to be able to go home at last. Jeff was very proud of him. Gordon had stepped up to the mark and then right over it, without faltering. With two of the Tracys on sick leave, things had been ridiculously tight, but they had managed somehow. He could not imagine how difficult Scott had been finding things since he and John had been gone, running International Rescue largely on his own.

Although they had remained in radio contact with base, the thirteen-minute time delay made conversations long-winded and tiresome, and everyone was simply too busy to sit and wait for replies to arrive. Policy therefore was of communication only when necessary. Whilst they had been away, Jeff had worried consistently about what might be going on back home with International Rescue, and how would Scott cope alone? Would Virgil disregard his orders and return to duty early in order to help Scott? And what of Young Alan? Alan had been seriously injured, and without a doubt even whilst he was recovering from his physical hurts, the shock and trauma caused by the incident had taken a massive toll on the young astronaut. Jeff needed Alan. He needed him to be part of his team, he knew he did. But he needed Alan to be with them voluntarily. Alan had to want to be there.

The last few weeks had been among the most difficult of Jeff's life. The terror that had ripped through his soul when Scott had first informed him over the radio that Alan and Virgil had been hurt, and that Alan was dying had not quite left him. Jeff knew it had left him scarred, even as the death of his dear Carolyn had scarred him. Even now these latest scars were still hurting badly, and would not begin to heal until he could be confident that his boys would heal. Completely. All of them.

He thought about the motto of International Rescue "At All Costs" that he had implemented and drummed into the boys right from the beginning. It had been a very real and honest statement of intent, and Jeff still believed in it wholeheartedly. However, he had to admit that recently that belief had taken something of a battering. He could have lost both Alan and Virgil. What would he have done then? He would have had no option but to recruit people from outside if he wanted to keep the organization running. Did he want to do that? If the boys had refused to involve themselves in his plans he would not have had a choice; and it had been a point he had had to consider very carefully before going ahead with Brains right at the beginning.

Now of course, he was arriving home finally, after a long mission. The comms were down, thanks to a power failure half-way home. They had been forced to re-wire some of the ships systems in order to keep the navi-com on line. Communication was one of the systems that had had to be sacrificed, and it wasn't until they had locked on to Thunderbird Five that they had any communication at all with anyone. Gordon had quickly brought his father and elder brother up to speed, including the detail that as soon as Alan felt well enough, he had insisted on returning to full duty, but had refused to give any more details than that, saying simply that "Everything is fine!"

They were down. They were home, finally after almost two weeks living in an oversized beaked bean tin it felt like. John felt he would appreciate Thunderbird Five more after this. As for Gordon, after having his satellite watch extended by two weeks, felt like he wanted to curl up on his own bed in his own room and sleep for three days. First, he wanted to see his little brother.

Leaving John and dad behind, he tore through the launch-bay, and then through the work-rooms and tunnels, into the cloakroom, where he showered and removed his IR uniform. Finally, back in his own clothes, he dumped his suitcase down in the kitchen and skidded to a halt in the lounge. The room was empty. No, almost empty. Brains was standing at the edge of the open balcony, staring out to sea. He turned and gave Gordon a welcoming smile.

"Welcome home Gordon."

"Brains!"

Gordon of course, had no need to ask where everyone was. He knew already. He grinned at the scientist.

"Everything prepared?"

Brains nodded.

"They're waiting for you. If you want to join in the surprise Gordon, you had better run!"

Gordon ran. Down the steps from the balcony level to the pool. The whole pool decking area had been decorated with balloons and streamers, tables of party food sat beneath the cliff face, and a wide, multi coloured banner streamed from the signal pole that read "Thunderbirds Are Go!" in massive letters. He looked round.

"Alan?" he whispered urgently. A hand waved from behind a giant beach umbrella, and Gordon scuttled behind it. Alan crouched there, grinning widely. Gordon reached out a hand and touched his younger brother tentatively.

"Y. 're really real. Alan, I was so scared I was gonna lose you, I…"

Alan grinned and put a finger over Gordon's mouth, then pulled him forward and hugged him close. He whispered in Gordon's ear.

"I'd hate to ruin this surprise after all the puff I used blowing up all of those balloons!"

Gordon giggled and nodded. Together the brothers waited, Gordon crouched as close to Alan as he could while they waited. It was ten minutes before they heard the sound they had been waiting for.

Jeff and John had been astounded and not a little disappointed at finding everywhere empty and silent.

"You know dad, I thought they might have at least have missed us…unless the whole household is out on a rescue!"

Jeff shook his head.

"The boys maybe, and Tintin possibly, but Grandma should still be around, and Kyrano and Brains…something is definitely going on."

The post flight checks that Alan always performed so efficiently took them longer than they had expected, and by the time they had showered and changed into normal clothing once again, almost fifteen minutes had passed.

"I wonder Gordon didn't stay and give us a hand!" John remarked a little stiffly. His father ruffled his hair.

"Gordon's been on duty for six weeks, son. How would you feel in his place? Besides which, these can't have been easy weeks for him to be trapped away from home either."

"True. I bet he and Alan are already planning their next piece of mischief together."

Jeff looked at him and grinned.

"Didn't I hear you say a month or so ago that if only Alan would recover you would gladly put up with any of his tricks?"

"I never said that!" John exclaimed. Then at his father's grinning face, he laughed suddenly. "Oh alright dad, I might have said that. Between you and me I am secretly hoping that I live to regret it!"

"Me too, son. Me too."

Like Gordon a few minutes earlier, they found the entire complex deserted. The house was empty. No grandma or even Kyrano. Everyone was missing. Father and son each caught the other's eye.

"You don't suppose they have something planned for us do you? A `welcome home' party or something?" John asked, his eyebrows raised. Jeff shrugged.

"Well, not in here they don't. Let's go downstairs."

They turned and went downstairs the back way, through the house and emerged onto the pool area from the kitchen level in the doorway through the rock face at the base of the cliff into which the house was built. They stepped out and stared around in delighted surprise at the decorations and food around them. They just had time to notice the large banner over the pool, when ten figures leapt out of their various hiding places yelling "Surprise!"

Jeff burst out laughing, his heart swelling with joy and pride as he looked around at his household.

Kyrano and Tintin arm in arm stood near the door he and John had just come out of, and were smiling softly.

Grandma was now in the deckchair which a moment ago she had evidently been crouched behind. She was wiping something from her eyes and trying not to weep.

Lady Penelope and Parker were walking towards him to shake his hand, each eating a large and gooey cream éclair.

Scott and Virgil were climbing out of the pool, their re-breathers clutched in their wet hands, grinning widely.

Gordon and Alan were standing side by side, Gordon clutching Alan by the arm as though he was afraid the younger man was about to try to run away. Gordon was red faced, and might have been holding back tears…it was difficult to tell for sure. Alan was grinned widely.

Brains strolled up casually and held out his hand.

"Welcome home Mister Tracy." He said simply. "The whole world has been following your progress ever since you left. Thunderbird Three will be repaired and ready to go in thirty-six hours. The telemetry and systems data you transmitted from Thunderbird Five was invaluable. The damaged systems will be easy to repair. I will take the opportunity to upgrade the entire electrical system whilst I am at it. It should make the same system failure ninety-three point two percent less likely ever to recur."

"Thanks Brains." Jeff replied sincerely, and looked round. The boys were grinning at him. Somehow his attention was drawn once again to the banner behind them.

"Boys…this welcome home is wonderful. Thank you...but tell me why did you put "Thunderbirds Are Go!" on the banner? Appropriate I suppose but…"

Scott hugged his father and shook John by the hand.

"You were hoping for a welcome home sign?" he smiled and glanced round at his younger brothers. "Dad, the first week you two were away was a nightmare for me. I was out on rescues more than I was home, I had almost no sleep that week, and I knew we were about finished with both of you on your way to Mars and Alan and Virgil still sick…but then everything turned around."

"Turned around how, Scott?" Jeff looked stricken with guilt. Scott grinned.

"Alan came home and took over for a couple of days while I rested, then Tintin borrowed Alan's plane and took Virgil to visit the hospital in Brisbane to be officially tested for fitness."

"And?" Jeff looked at Virgil. Virgil grinned.

"And I am now officially A1. As of three days ago I have official approval to return to work. And now you and Thunderbird Three are back from your rescue mission, the whole team is back together again."

Jeff hugged his four elder sons tightly, and then turned to Alan. He walked over to him and rested his hands lightly on the young man's shoulders.

"Alan, what about you, son?"

"I'm fine, dad."

Jeff searched his eyes, but he saw only Alan's crystal clear, blue eyed gaze.

"I don't want you back on duty unless you know you are really ready. We almost lost you…I think we almost lost you twice. The first time from the bullets, And the second time…"

"…I know dad, I know."

Alan smiled at his father.

"For a while I thought I wanted out. But now I know I couldn't bear it. I couldn't live with myself if someone died that I could have saved. It's like you always said when we were kids; `We save all the lives we can, at any cost'. It means we care more about saving other people than we do about ourselves."

"And that is truly how you feel?"

Suddenly, Jeff was surrounded by all five of his sons.

"Yes, father." Scott reassured him. "These last few weeks have been the hardest I can ever remember, between nearly losing Alan and Virgil, being so short-handed, and then having to cope with rescues single handed for a week...if we didn't believe in your core values dad, we couldn't have done it."

"But now Alan and I are fit and healthy and raring to go, Scott is rested, Gordon finally has his feet back on terra firma and you and John are home." Virgil continued. "The whole team is back together again, stronger than before." He looked up at the banner flapping above their heads.

"That's why you chose those words for the banner." John smiled at his brothers. "Because Thunderbirds Are Go!"

Alan glanced at Gordon and he found Gordon already waiting to catch his eye. He was grinning widely. "Shall we do it?" his eyes seemed to ask. Filled with an impish sense of mischief, Alan nodded.

Together, the two boys linked their arms together and heaved with all their might, crying out at the top of their lungs;

"Thunderbirds Are Going into The Pool!"

With an almighty splash, Scott, John, Virgil and Jeff were pushed into the swimming pool. Everyone watching burst out laughing, as Alan and Gordon dived in after them, fully dressed. As he surfaced, wiping water from his eyes and treading water, Jeff Tracy tried to be angry, but he couldn't. How could he? He watched his sons chasing and splashing each other round and round the pool and had to smile as he climbed out, dripping.

He couldn't be cross. Not this time. Not anymore. Everything was all right again. Everyone was healthy and happy, playing together. Another emergency would come up, more danger would happen, but they would be fine. The Thunderbirds would do their duty. When the call came, the Thunderbirds would go. When they had done their duty, when they had saved all the lives they could, they would return safely home again. Home to the ones they loved.

THE END

Thank you to everyone for reading, following, favouriting and reviewing this story. It is a shame it has to end, but who knows what adventures are still awaiting just around the corner?

Until next time, adieu!

Lilidelafield